UK's PageGroup H1 profit halves on lacklustre hiring market
Aug 8 (Reuters) -PageGroup's PAGE.L first-half profit more than halved, the British recruiter said on Thursday, citing a drop in new job openings and the number of interviews undertaken amid macroeconomic and political uncertainties.
CONTEXT
PageGroup, which runs PageExecutive and MichaelPage among other businesses, forecast in July that its full-year operating profit would nearly half from a year earlier, taking a cautious view on the rest of the year.
WHY IT'S IMPORTANT
Recruitment firms have been battling tough hiring market conditions over the past year, as candidates hesitated to switch jobs and companies took longer to fill vacancies, while multiple national elections dealt another blow to the sector.
PageGroup's UK peers Robert Walters RWA.L and Hays HAYS.L have warned that the hiring market will remain subdued in the near term, with the November U.S. elections expected to impact confidence further.
Britain's jobs market showed further signs of cooling in July, according to a Recruitment and Employment Confederation survey on Thursday. Permanent hiring extended a nearly two-year downturn albeit the drop was less marked on a monthly basis, and pay hikes were weaker from June levels.
BY THE NUMBERS
PageGroup, which helps hire executives, professionals and clerical staff, reported an operating profit of 28.4 million pounds ($36.1 million) for the six-month period ended June 30, down 53.7% on a constant currency basis from last year.
The firm reaffirmed its annual profit outlook of 60 million pounds, below analyst's average expectations of 68.6 million pounds, according to IBES data.
KEY QUOTES
"The conversion of interviews to accepted offers continues to be a significant area of challenge, as candidate and client confidence remains subdued, reflecting the macro-economic uncertainty in the majority of our markets," CEO Nicholas Kirk said in a statement.
($1 = 0.7868 pounds)
Reporting by Prerna Bedi in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Sherry Jacob-Phillips
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